A proposal to encourage companies to repatriate the trillions of dollars that are resting offshore is also up for discussion between the White House and Republicans on Capitol Hill, perhaps along the lines of the repatriation holiday offered by the Bush administration in 2004.

Whether either of those changes would have a material impact on the investment decisions of US companies operating abroad remains to be seen.

“I don’t think there’s any reason to expect that companies will change their investment patterns as a result of any change to corporate tax,” says Matt Gardner of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, explaining that the real challenge for legislators is tackling the various loopholes that are used by companies to avoid the high US corporate tax rate. Read more